Tingelhoff to be given serious consideration by HOF Seniors Committee

Four Vikings -- Randall McDaniel, John Randle, Chris Doleman and Cris Carter -- have been selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the past five years. There are no other eligible modern-era Vikings beating on the door to the Canton shrine at this time, but that doesn't mean there won't be yet another Viking to reach the Hall a year from now.

Former Vikings center Mick Tingelhoff will be strongly considered by the Hall's nine-member Seniors Committee later this year. Tingelhoff's resume -- six Pro Bowls, five first-team All-Pro honors, four Super Bowls and 240 consecutive games from start to finish in a 17-year career (1962-78) -- warrants further consideration by the Seniors Committee, which has discussed him before. Also helping Tingelhoff's case is the fact the Vikings are one of only two teams that haven't had a player chosen by the Seniors Committee and presented for a vote by the Hall's full 46-member selection committee.

On June 1, the Seniors Committee will receive its preliminary list of players whose careers were completed at least 25 years earlier. That list will be reduced to 15 finalists by a mail vote of the members of the Seniors Committee.

Five members of the Seniors Committee will then meet with two Hall of Fame consultants -- players who were contemporaries of the finalists -- to select the two Seniors Committee nominees. Those two players will then be discussed by and voted on by the full selection committee the Saturday before Super Bowl XLVIII. It takes 80 percent of the full selection committee's vote to be selected to the Hall of Fame.

Matt Vensel is in his first year at the Star Tribune after covering the Ravens for the Baltimore Sun for six years. He is a Pittsburgh native and a Penn State grad. Follow him at @mattvensel.

Mark Craig has covered the NFL for 23 years, and the Vikings since 2003 for the Star Tribune. He is one of 44 Pro Football Hall of Fame selectors. Follow him at @markcraignfl.

Master Tesfatsion is the Star Tribune’s digital Vikings writer. He is a 2013 graduate of Arizona State and worked for mlb.com before arriving in Minneapolis. Follow him at @masterstrib.